December 24, 2014 – The recent news about allegations of widespread, systemic, and apparently state-sponsored doping in Russia as portrayed in a recent German TV documentary (see link below) created a lot of furor with WADA announcing an investigation supported by the association’s Athlete Committee Chair, Beckie Scott. The documentary claims that current Russian sports practices are simply continuing the doping practices common under the former Soviet Union (USSR) and one person is not surprised – Marty Hall.

In fact, Hall, who coached both the US national Nordic ski the Canadian national Nordic team, has been complaining about this situation since the 1970s when athletes from the USSR and other communist countries were dominating podiums.

We caught up with Hall who sent us clippings from the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun dating from 1988 in which he is quoted as complaining that the east bloc country athletes were doping. Often described as “opinionated and controversial” Hall almost lost his coaching job for being so outspoken about doping during the 1988 Games in Calgary; he hasn’t changed in that respect. “I don’t care what happens to me,” Hall, now in his mid 70s, told this reporter.

“Pierre Harvey [Canada’s brightest XC hope in the late 1980s and father of Alex] in 1988 should have been in top 5; instead was in top 15,” gripes Hall about the 1988 Calgary Winter Games. Hall reveals that Harvey almost quit the sport after those disappointing Olympics on home soil, but Harvey’s wife encouraged him to go back to Europe for two more World Cups. He took home the 30 km CL victory in Falun, Sweden and the 50km CL in Oslo, Norway at the famous Holmenkollen. Harvey holds the distinction of winning Canada’s first-ever World Cup in 1987 at Falun in the 30km FR.

A recounting of the top finishers at the Calgary Olympics is dominated by red flags of the former Soviet Union and other east bloc countries with a sprinkling of western European flags. The US team won 8th place in the 4 X 5km relay while no Canadian flags are to be seen in the top results (as reported by Wikipedia – see link below).

Red flags, of course, have a double meaning and also denote signs that something can be horribly wrong. Hall recounts an earlier period at the 1974 Worlds when he coached US skier Martha Rockwell. “Of the first 12 finishers, only three were not from Communist countries. What about the Norwegians and Swedes?” he asked, referring to the nationalities which normally dominate Nordic skiing. His insinuation is that when nationalities without a strong tradition in the sport begin dominating, there are red flags with those results.

Hall is not naïve to suggest doping is absent in the West, but points to a case where a US coach turned in one of his skiers for doping. He uses this anecdote to illustrate the integrity of the US and Canadian systems.

“But the people who piss me [off are the ones in positions of power who did nothing]. They didn’t want to embarrass the sport or lose sponsors!” says Hall. He spoke at length about the lack of will from leaders of the sport’s international governing bodies – the Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) and past presidents of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Those who followed the Lance Armstrong doping scandal will be familiar with allegations of complicity on the part of the UCI, cycling’s governing body. Hall’s comments suggest the same in cross-country skiing – is it the same in soccer, running and other sports where high profile doping cases have been exposed ?

There is one name at the top whom Hall speaks well of – Canadian Dick Pound. “He used to be [a big guy with the] IOC; then he went to start the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA); that screwed him up back at the IOC! He was a dedicated enemy of the druggies.” Pound twice served as VP of the IOC and was a former candidate to become president there. Hall insinuates that the IOC wouldn’t want a president who would take such a hard line against dopers.

Hall’s criticisms of the former Soviet Union go beyond simply doping; he accuses those involved of trying to intimidate non-Soviet athletes and recalls travelling to the region with sisters, Shirley and Sharon Firth, who dominated the Canadian women’s cross-country skiing scene from 1972 to 1984. The two sisters told Hall they were told “…you’ve got to be with us” basically the whole time that they were in the USSR.

Hall remains well-connected and is on top of what is going on elsewhere in the sport, noting that the situation has improved in some countries. “They got the Italians to stop [doping]; it’s now a felony there. Italians joke: ‘We don’t dope anymore because we could go to jail!’”

Hall recounts Canadian Beckie Scott’s now famous bronze at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City that became gold two years later. The initial gold and silver winners – both Russians – slipped away on a snowmobile before they could be tested for doping but they were caught later and disqualified. “Now skipping a test is the same as failing it.”

Apart from legal sanctions, Hall advocates more “No notice testing.” He mentioned the case of Austrian Johannes Duerr who tested positive for EPO around the time of the Sochi Olympics after multiple negative tests. Hall claims that traces of EPO only remain in the body for half a day and complains that if authorities always test athletes at the same time of day, doping athletes can quickly figure out how to avoid getting caught.

“The good guys have made a lot of gains since 1988,” replies Hall when asked if he is generally more optimistic or pessimistic about the outlook for stamping out doping.

Marty Hall coached the US ski team from 1969-78 and then coached the Canadian team from 1982-1992. He developed the trails and stadium used for the 1995 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Thunder Bay, ON. In the 1970s, he designed and oversaw construction of the American Birkiebeiner Trail in Cable WI.

SkiTrax’s previous article on doping in Russia here.
Nordic results from 1998 Calgary Olympics (Wikipedia) here.